Given the currently unrivaled popularity of Final Fantasy XIV in the MMO-sphere, it’s no surprise that Square Enix wants to keep the party going as long as possible. During the 68th Letter from the Producer Live broadcast on Friday, the game’s director and producer Naoki Yoshida discussed his thoughts on the next ten years of the title. He also took the time to mention that NFTs would not be a thing coming to Eorzea any time soon.
After reminding viewers that he himself would not be leaving FFXIV, Yoshi-P announced an overhaul of the online game’s mission. Final Fantasy fans will often admit that XI and XIV are the two titles they haven’t played, solely because they dislike MMOs. To combat this, Yoshida wants to make Final Fantasy XIV a game that can be enjoyed either alone or with friends. To that end, he will be expanding the Trust system all the way way back to A Realm Reborn. For those who aren’t familiar, the Trust system allows players to enter dungeons with a party of NPCs rather than actual players.
Of course, the Duty Finder will still be left intact, as the expansion of the Trust system is only being aimed at players who want to experience the story solo.
A number of low-level main scenario dungeons and trials will see changes. Popular story dungeons Praetorium and Castrum Meridianum will be changed from eight-person to four-person instances, while Cape Westwindn will be removed and reworked as a quest-instanced battle.
Yoshi-P also announced the game’s first graphical update to be implemented in Patch 7.0.
The game’s next patch, 6.1, does not yet have a release date, but more information is planned for the next Live Letter on March 4, 2022. We do know that it will add the first part of the Myths of the Realm alliance raid, a new PvP mode called Crystalline Conflict, the Arkasodara tribe quests and daily quests, and Ultima’s Bane (Unreal).
Final Fantasy XIV is available to play on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. The release of the game’s newest expansion Endwalker resulted in such a massive influx of players that sales of the title were suspended as of December 16, 2021 due to extreme server congestion. Digital sales resumed on January 25, 2022, and the much memed on free trial is also available once again as of today, February 22.
